For decades information has been stored on magnetic tape media using tape drives. Initially the magnetic tapes were wound about large reels in similar manner as film for early film projectors. In more recent years, the magnetic tape has typically been housed in a cartridge or cassette, extending internally in the cartridge from a supply reel to a take-up reel.
In some systems, the magnetic tape has longitudinal tracks recorded thereon (e.g. tracks that extend along the major length dimension of the tape). In other systems, the path of the magnetic tape is such that the tape is at least partially wrapped around a drum in a manner to transduce helical stripes or tracks on the magnetic tape.
When data is read from a magnetic tape, errors can occur. This can be due to defective operation of the tape drive that has written the data onto the magnetic tape, such as clogging of the tape drive's heads.